On the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of Poland’s baptism, the National Audiovisual Institute will present recordings of Sanctus Adalbertus Op. 71 by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and St. Luke Passion by Krzysztof Penderecki on April 26 and 27, 2016.

The last great work composed by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki has been a topic of much conversation for years, though no one had actually heard it until 2015. Sanctus Adalbertus Op. 71 for soprano, baritone, mixed choir, and orchestra was written as early as 1997 to mark the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Adalbert. The four-part piece is based on passages from the Book of Psalms and Górecki’s own writing. The oratorio was premiered on November 4, 2015, in Krakow at a concert marking the 70th anniversary of PWM Edition, co-produced by the National Audiovisual Institute. The premiere performance, the recording of which will be screened on April 26, featured Wioletta Chodowicz (soprano) and Artur Ruciński (baritone) accompanied by the Polish Radio Choir, the Krakow Philharmonic Choir, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk.

On April 27 the audience will be presented with a recording of the performance of St. Luke Passion held at this year’s edition of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. The solo parts were performed by soprano Johanna Rusanen, baritone David Pershall, and bass Nikolay Didenko. Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki himself. The composition, premiered on March 30, 1966, was comissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk on the 700th anniversary of the Münster Cathedral’s foundation.

Sanctus Adalbertus and St. Luke Passion are the first productions recorded by the NInA using the Dolby Atmos multichannel audio standard.

Admission free.

Source: www.nina.gov.pl